UCL Grand Challenge of Human Wellbeing

The Extended Lifespan.  Is it in our best interest?

Thursday, 16 February 2012 (6-7.30pm)

Did you miss this discussion?  A video recording is available

Darwin Lecture Theatre (B40), Darwin Building, off Malet Place, off Torrington Place, London, WC1E 6BT.  Location map.  Detailed directions to reach the lecture theatre are at the bottom of this page.

This public discussion will draw out the various impacts of an extended lifespan. It is noted that the life span of someone born in 2011 could easily be 100 years in some societies, yet below 40 years in others. As our life expectancy grows, how will we cope with continual degradation of our dexterity, eyesight or mental capacity? Is such degradation inevitability? How reduced can our functional performance become before we have to contend with life-changing impacts? How will our health system cope? How will an ageing population erode tax revenues and how will future generations be affected? As we live longer, will we live with disease and disability for longer?

Ageing is not only about the extending of lifespan at the ‘older end’. The increased ageing of relatively small groups, such as people with Downs syndrome and cerebral palsy, who in the past had relatively short lifespans, but are now living longer – possibly beyond the lifespan of their parent-carers. How should these groups, who are often not included in the ‘ageing debate’, be integrated into wider society?

Chair / convenor: Nick Tyler, Chadwick Professor of Civil Engineering, UCL Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering, Director, UCL Crucible.

Speakers

Mel Bartley, Professor of Medical Sociology, UCL Epidemiology and Public Health. Director, ESRC Centre for Life Course Studies in Society and Health

Malcolm Grant, Provost, UCL. Chair, NHS Commissioning Board

Sally Greengross, Chief Executive, International Longevity Centre-UK. Chair, All-Party Parliamentary Groups: Dementia, Corporate Social Responsibility, Intergenerational Futures and Continence Care.

Additional speakers will be announced shortly.

7.30-8.30pm, Reception, Wilkins South Cloisters

Register here

Detailed directions to reach the Darwin Lecture Theatre
The Darwin Lecture Theatre is in the basement of UCL's Darwin Building.  NB. You cannot enter the lecture theatre via Gower Street.  You can only enter via Malet Place. 

Directly opposite Waterstone's bookshop on Torrington Place you will see a small service road (Malet Place) leading into the UCL campus.

Keeping to your left, walk along Malet Place for approximately 80m. You will see an oblong sign indicating the Darwin Building.  Turn to your left and walk along this path. Walk up 6 steps to the entrance of the Darwin Building. 

UCL staff and students will need their ID card to pass through the security gates.  Non-UCL visitors will need to report to the security desk on the right of the reception area. 

Follow the sign for the lecture theatre down the stairs to the basement.  At the bottom of the stairs turn to your right to enter the lecture theatre.